“Thank you,” Corby whispered and in the next moment she almost fainted because Jacob bent to her and kissed her on the lips.
When he pulled away, she sat still and looked at him wide-eyed as if she were an ice sculpture of a badly-posed model.
“Did I offend you?” Jacob asked. He looked genuinely worried.
“Ah ...” Corby swallowed, shook her head, then said barely moving her lips, “it was sudden. I didn’t expect it.”
At the same moment her thoughts overwhelmed her. The coolest boy in her school kissed her. Jacob kissed her. He stood up for her and admired her. It just couldn’t happen. It was a dream. She must be dreaming. Everything that was happening lately seemed unreal. Maybe she slipped into some kind of parallel world? Maybe she saw what didn’t exist. Jacob kissed her!
He reached out and moved a fallen strand of hair from her face, sending a series of new chills down her spine.
“What do you think about me?” Jacob asked.
Corby looked down. Didn’t he know what she thought about him?
“You’re cool,” she said.
“Do you want to go out with me?”
Corby looked at Jacob. He was smiling, but she felt he wasn’t kidding. Still, she asked.
“Are you serious?”
“I’m very serious.”
“But ...”
“Stop it,” Jacob interrupted. “Don’t try to explain everything rationally. Yes or no?”
“They will laugh at you.”
“Oh really? I’m so scared.” Jacob grinned. “Yes or no, Corby Mackentile? Will you be my girlfriend?”
“This is so ... strange. They said that you have a girlfriend. Your neighbor.”
“So what? Everything changes. Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
He leaned in and kissed her again. He had warm, firm lips. She tried to answer the kiss, but didn’t know how to do it. Then she remembered where they were and recoiled, looking around.
“Don’t think about them,” Jacob said. “Just me and you.”
The bell rang and Corby got off the bench.
“We have the same class,” she said. “Spanish.”
He looked down at her, smiling.
“You’ll get used to it,” Jacob said. “To everything.”
“Jane will kill me,” Corby said.
Jacob laughed, then got up from the bench and kissed her on the cheek.
“I don’t think so,” he said seriously, and winked.
He went to the school building and Corby followed him, tossing her bag on her shoulder. She noticed the looks of the students who came out to enjoy fresh air during recess. She and Jacob, together, entered the classroom before the beginning of a new lesson and she saw Jane first. The girl looked at her then at Jacob and her eyes shifted from her to him and back several times. Corby wanted to shrink and disappear right up until the moment she felt a touch. Jacob took her hand and squeezed it. She looked at him in shock, but he was smiling. Right at that second the room exploded with questions, whistling, hooting. Jacob raised his arm, releasing her hand.
“This is an official statement,” he said. “Corby and I are a couple. Whoever says a word to her, will have to deal with me. If you have any questions, you can ask me too.”
He paused. Everyone in the room had gone silent and when Corby looked up, she saw that everyone was watching her. Jane looked at her too and then moved her astonished eyes to Jacob. Corby didn’t know what he did, but apparently he did something, because Jane’s eyes got even bigger, she jumped up from her chair, and flew to the door.
“It’s not over!” she shouted before disappearing.
Corby found Abigail and she showed her approval with a thumbs-up gesture.
When the teacher came into the classroom, Corby went to her place and nobody said a word to her.
“What’s going on here?” the teacher asked, putting her folder on the table. “Very suspicious silence. What did you do? What happened?”
“The end of the world happened,” someone said, but Corby didn’t recognize who it was. She was between heaven and earth. She flew without an opportunity to stop and the love that grew in her heart was so strong that it threatened to tear her into small pieces. She wanted to stand up and scream. She wanted to do something, but she was silent and able to suppress the only one external component of her emotions, a smile.
CHAPTER 34
The first message, Corby received before she reached home.
Pork is good for dinner. There was more. Sluts get what they deserve.
This meant Jane wasn’t afraid anymore and began to harass Corby openly over the phone where it was easily seen. That’s how much she was hurt. Corby wasn’t scared of Jane either. She wasn’t scared of anyone anymore and ignored the messages.
To her surprise, no one had bothered her with questions or laughed at her at school. Everyone, absolutely everyone looked at her with different eyes. She couldn’t believe it. The only one who approached her was Abigail.
“Cool,” she said. “I’d never have thought. Glasgow. When did it happen?”
Corby shrugged.
“It just happened,” she said. “Thank you for standing up for me today.”
“No problem,” Abigail said. “I’m here for you. Listen, my birthday is in a week. I don’t do big celebrations, just a couple of friends. Would you come?”
Corby didn’t respond right away, numb from another shock. She couldn’t remember the last time someone invited her to a birthday party.
“Would you?” Abigail repeated. “I’ll tell you where, when I decide for sure.”
“Of course,” Corby said.
“Excellent. Give me your number, I’ll text you with the time and place.”
That was how Corby entered a new contact in her phone. The phone number of a possible first friend in a long time.
Then she had another surprise, unpleasant. Mrs. Gullen decided to have a talk with her and stopped her in the classroom during a big recess. The questions though weren’t unexpected. How did she feel? Could she help with anything? Corby answered that she just hadn’t been feeling well, but now she was much better and ready to improve her grades. She smiled, which was easy and it seemed to satisfy the teacher.
She received another message from Jane after going to the bathroom, washing her hands, and entering the kitchen. She knew it was Jane without even checking.
“How are you, darling?” Mom asked. She was home already when Dad brought Corby home. She looked very young in jeans and a gray fluffy sweater. She was standing near the coffee machine, waiting until it finished making a cup of coffee with hazelnuts. Dad didn’t annoy Corby with questions in the car and she hoped that Mother would follow his example.
“Good. Thank you.”
“You look more cheerful today.”
“Thanks.” Corby took out strawberry yogurt from the bottom shelf of the fridge, tore off the lid, licked it, and threw it in the trash.
“I can make something for you.”
“This is enough for now. I’m in my room, okay?”
“Okay.”
Corby took a spoon from the drawer and went to her room, tasting the yogurt along the way. In her room, she closed the door, put the yogurt on her desk, and pulled out her phone.
U think not answering will work? Don’t even dream about it.
Corby thought about the message for a few seconds, then she considered if she should answer or not, and finally typed two sentences.
And you don’t dream about Jacob. Believe me now?
The phone was silent for several seconds then it started to shake from a flow of messages. If it was a live being, it probably would have a heart attack from the unexpected surplus of attention. So many messages had never passed through its body at one time.
u fucking slut!
bitch!
u’ll be sorry!
do u think that freak will protect you? Not! He’s a fucking freak!
who do you think u r,
fat cow?
we’ll cut off your fucking horns!
ugly bitch!
Glasgow just laughs at u, u stupid idiot! He hates u! He’ll fuck u and tell everyone!
Corby didn’t believe Jane, but the last message was more unpleasant than all the others. What if Jacob really wanted just to fuck her? Why would he do that? He could sleep with any girl. No one would turn him down, and certainly not her.
Corby felt she was blushing. He kissed her and it was nice, but now he wanted to sleep with her. They were going to have sex. He already had some experience, but for her it would be the first time. She thought she would stay a virgin until old age, like thirty or something, but now she would lose this burden at fifteen and with the coolest boy, the dream boy. How would it happen? Where? When? How long should they date before hooking up? She would also have to get naked. He would see her naked!
Pleasant and shameful thoughts were interrupted by another message.
Fucking bitch. He’ll knock you up! U ugly cow!
Corby opened the field and wrote the answer.
Interesting, what will the detectives say if I show them these messages?
After that, no more signals had been received on her phone. Only at nine in the evening, when she was preparing to go to bed because she was tired, the telephone sounded again.
This time it was Jacob.
What are you doing, beautiful? Miss me?
Corby thought for a few seconds. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how to flirt.
“I have to be honest. I think I miss him.”
Of course. She wrote.
Jacob: I’m sorry I couldn’t talk to you after class, but your dad came so soon.
Corby: Sorry about that.
Jacob: Okay, I think we can do without an apology. Did you see Jane’s face? Priceless.
Corby: Jacob, do you want to see me because you really like me or is there another reason?
Pause.
Jacob: Why? I told you everything. What made you doubt?
Corby: Jane.
Jacob: That bitch. Did she text you?
Corby: She’s stopped now.
Jacob: What did she write you?
Corby: That I’m a bitch, slut, fat cow. Same old stuff.
Jacob: She’s a bitch, slut, and a fat cow.
Corby: She’s not fat.
Jacob: Whatever. Fuck her. You’re not fat. I don’t want to hear that again.
Corby: Thank you, Jacob.
Jacob: Don’t thank me. You’re a beautiful woman and I’m glad you agreed to be mine.))
Corby: ))
Jacob: Sorry, I can’t meet you today. I have a charity dinner with my mother. She said it’s important for me to be there. I hope she won’t push me to do a speech, though I’m used to it.
Corby: Good luck. Have fun if you can.
Jacob: I’ll try. See you tomorrow.
Corby: See you tomorrow.
She almost added love you, but caught herself in time. It was too early, and he had to say it first. He had to say it first so she would know for sure.
He said mine. My girl.
“I’m his.”
Corby threw her phone on the bed, went to the mirror, lifted her blouse, and turned in all directions. She ignored the bruises left by Jane’s fists, they would go away without efforts, and she focused on her figure. Yes, she had lost weight, but her stomach was still big, as well as her butt. She had to lose more weight as quickly as possible otherwise she wouldn’t take her clothes off in front of Jacob. Corby looked at her face. It became red in an instant. How was she going to do that? It was so embarrassing. He was going to touch her everywhere, she would have to touch him everywhere, and she had almost no idea about sex. She had learned a lot from the Internet, but not enough to pass for an expert. She wasn’t even interested. She didn’t think that sex would become something important enough in her life to invest her time and expectations. She dreamed of Jacob becoming her boyfriend, but she didn’t think it would happen. Not in million years.
Corby opened the closet to get dressed and wondered what to start doing first: exercising or searching online. She decided that exercising should be first because she would wake her parents by running at night, and looking for articles about sex was better after they fell asleep. Between these two things she had to do her homework because she didn’t want to attract more attention to herself with her unexpected drop in academic performance. Also she had to go to the shop to visit her friends.
Dressed in a sweat suit that previously was nothing for her but comfortable clothes to wear at home, she left her room and ran down the stairs. Then she went upstairs and down again. Then again and again.
Mother came out of the kitchen and stared at her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Don’t you see? I’m running.”
“I see. Corby, are you okay?”
“I’m great. I read it helps you to concentrate.”
“Good idea,” Mother nodded.
Corby stopped in the middle of the stairs, panting.
“Mom, I can’t run under your supervision.”
“Okay, okay. I’m here if you need me. If you want to talk. I’m painting my nails. I can do yours.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Go, please.”
“Okay.”
As soon as Mother disappeared, Corby ran up again, even though her breathing and her head told her to stop. She had to lose weight, she must.
One more time up and down and Corby collapsed on the top step, unable to make a single move. She crawled to her room, inhaling air with loud whistling, closed the door, and landed on the floor. It took her a few minutes to get up and go to the desk. There, she turned on her laptop and opened her homework. Before digging into equations and formulas, she went down to the kitchen and made a grilled cheese sandwich. Mom asked one for herself and Corby didn’t mind. Two or three it didn’t matter when she started to mess with food. While Corby cooked, Mother repainted her nails and chattered about fashion. She behaved as if nothing had happened in the recent days and just stared at her daughter attentively. Corby barely listened to her. She put a sandwich on one plate in front of her mother and went to her room with her own plate. She gave credit to her parents, especially her mother. They tried their best, considering they didn’t care about her at all before. Also she was happy they didn’t try harder to find out what was going on. They tried, but wanted everything to continue the way it was and didn’t press her.
“Too much homework,” Corby said as she left the room, and her mother didn’t say anything.
Wasting no time, she did the math and Spanish. With one hand she was answering questions and with the other holding her sandwich. She was surprised how easy she was able to concentrate. Study, as usual, came to her without effort. When she finished with that, she waited eagerly for the right hours to go to the shop. She didn’t walk there, she flew. This day was the longest, most intense, and the happiest in her life.
Once Gaby said goodbye, Corby closed the door, and ran to the fridge.
“Girls,” she said, opening the lid of the freezer box. “Girls, girls, girls. Sylvia, if you don’t want to listen close your ears, because I’m going to talk about Jacob and you won’t like it. I’m pretty sure you won’t. To make a long story short, he wants me to be his girlfriend. Actually I agreed already. I know—shoooock.” Corby put her hands to her cheeks in a gesture of extravagant comedies. “Yes. And yes, he kissed me. And he said that he admires me. Do you know why he admires me? Because I killed you. I know it’s a little strange, but still nice. It’s nice to have support in this situation.”
Corby stopped smiling, and sat on the edge of the box, looking at the frozen blood on Sylvia’s head.
It was really strange. If he just understood her and didn’t tell anyone because he liked her, it would be one thing. But he admired her. Why?
“Because he is as sick as you are!”
Corby sighed and rolled her e
yes. Again. The inner voice or whatever it was reminded her of its presence. Maybe she was sick if she could hear it. What normal person heard voices and talked to them? None.
“Jacob’s not sick. He’s very smart, he plays football, and everyone respects him at school. Get it? You should know this, girls. He didn’t admire me because I killed you. He did it because I took action. It was a serious step and I wasn’t afraid.
“Of course. Lie to yourself, lie if it’s convenient.”
“That’s enough talking about my boyfriend. It’s nobody’s business. You’re so jealous. Everyone is. I’ll tell you about Jane. I think she has a crush on him too. Okay, she locked me in the restroom in school and decided to fight me. It didn’t work for her the way she probably expected, by the way. You can see her eyes when she looks at him. She looks at him like she is asking him to fuck her. He doesn’t want her. Ha! He doesn’t want you Sylvia or you Vera. He wants fat Corby.”
“I wonder why he wants you.”
“Stay away from me! He told me! I’m smart, beautiful, with a good sense of humor.”
“Oh well. Maybe he just wants to fuck you. Maybe he’s a pervert and only gets hard with fat chicks.”
“First of all—I’m not fat. And second ... Fuck you all. He already answered everything I wanted to know.”
Corby stood up, slammed the lid of the box, and went out of the refrigerator.
When she arrived home this time, she went to the kitchen and ate a salad with chicken in the company of Mom and Dad. She didn’t want them to attack her with their questions and their care again. She could blurt out something wrong in anger, something she would regret saying. They would continue knocking at her door all night long and destroy her life. They would not trust her in anything and would try to find punishment. No, thank you. It was better to do her homework and eat a disgusting dinner to avoid all of the above.
Mean girl_A dark, disturbing psychological thriller Page 21
